Lucrative City Garbage Contracts Up for Grabs

By JOE MALINCONICO / PATERSONPRESS.COM

October 16, 2011 at 2:03 PM

By JOE MALINCONICO / PATERSONPRESS.COM

October 16, 2011 at 2:03 PM

PATERSON, NJ – With more than $46 million worth of contracts at stake, there’s no doubt that Paterson’s garbage collection and disposal work looms as a valuable prize for the private companies in that business.

But the city’s decision on who should get the prize has become a matter of dispute among four of the companies that submitted bids for the work. The issue has been complicated by the school district’s last-minute decision to withdraw from an agreement to share in the city’s garbage contracts.

All of that leaves municipal officials struggling to untangle the mess without getting sued by any of the firms, while also trying to get the best price on the job and avoiding any disruption in Paterson’s trash collection services.

The City Council spent more than an hour talking trash at their meeting last Tuesday as they considered a plan to reject all the original garbage bids and seek a second round of proposals. The likelihood that the award of the three-year trash contracts would be delayed triggered an unusual – if not illegal – impromptu negotiating session as representatives of various companies offered to do the interim work for less than what the city is paying now.

Paterson’s two garbage contracts – one for collection and one for disposal – expired June 30. The city extended the previous deals as it worked on getting new contract in place, which was to include a plan to start a “shared service” agreement with the school district that officials said would save both entities money.

But late in the summer, after the school district a new business administrator, education officials decided they could get a better price on their own. That threw into question the original bids taken by the city, which had included the schools’ garbage.

Under those bids, Suburban Disposal of Fairfield, which currently handles the city’s trash collection as Roselle, would have won that job again at a price of $10.5 million for three years and options for two more years of $4.1 million and $4.2 million. Meanwhile, Sajo Transport of Kearny would have gotten the disposal contract at $15.98 million with options of $5.5 million and $5.7 million for the fourth and fifth years.

Paterson administration officials had decided that the school district’s withdrawal required the bids to be done all over again. The city council was going to vote to do that last Tuesday, until an attorney for Suburban, Adam Wolper, spoke at the meeting. Wolper said his company felt the bids were still valid, adding that the city would reap $3.6 million in savings over three years if it went forward with bids as they were.

Three other representatives from three other bidders also spoke at the meeting.

Gary Giordano, president of Smentkowski Carting of Jersey City, argued against the city’s decision to declare nullify his company’s bid on the grounds that it offered in different terms than the city had asked. Giordano insisted his company would have been lower than Suburban’s if the city considered his proposal.

Christopher Turano, an attorney for Veolia ES Solid Waste of Totowa, told council members that there were problems with Sajo’s bid on the disposal contract and argued that his firm had submitted the lowest proposal that complied with the bidding requirements.

Michael Mastrangello, chief development officer for Sajo, offered to handle Paterson’s garbage disposal work on an interim basis – until the contract situation is ironed out - for 25-percent less than what the city is now paying.

Giordano and Wolper, meanwhile, offered to do the collections on an interim basis for less than the current price.

The prospect of achieving short-term savings on both contracts has council salivating. They quickly came up with the idea of awarding the interim contracts on an emergency basis.

But City Corporation Counsel Paul Forsman warned the council that circumstances did not meet the requirements under state law for awarding emergency contracts.

After an exhausting discussion, the council decided to wait until October 25 to make the decision on whether to seek new bids as well as what to do about garbage collection and disposal for the interim.

At present, those jobs are being done by the previous contractors under a contract extension that expires November 6, officials said.

PATERSON, NJ- A proposal to designate the stretch of Union Avenue between Jasper and Kearny Street as a “hot spot” will not receive further public consideration by the Paterson City Council, at least not yet. If approved, the measure would have made the area one of 12 in the city in which businesses are forced to close by midnight and loitering after those hours in punishable by increased ...

PATERSON, NJ- A proposal to designate the stretch of Union Avenue between Jasper and Kearny Street ...

PATERSON, NJ- For one group of vocal Paterson residents Tuesday’s National Night Out event hosted by Councilman Shahin Khalique was an opportunity to lend their voices to a global campaign to raise awareness of issues hitting their ancestral homeland of Bangladesh.

The students and young adults, ranging in age from their teens to their late twenties, and members of local non-profit Cycle of ...

PATERSON, NJ- For one group of vocal Paterson residents Tuesday’s National Night Out event hosted ...

NEWARK, NJ- A Paterson based podiatrist who was sentenced to 36 months in prison earlier this year for defrauding Medicare and private insurance companies out of $3 million has had his podiatric license suspended for five years following a complaint that was filed against him by the State of New Jersey for prescriptions he issued to patients for painkillers and other drugs.

According to a ...

NEWARK, NJ- A Paterson based podiatrist who was sentenced to 36 months in prison earlier this year ...

PATERSON, NJ- Making good on a campaign promise to be active and visible in all of Paterson neighborhoods Councilwoman-At-Large Dr. Lillisa Mimms has announced that she will be holding her first two community meetings since taking office in July.

The meetings will be held as follows:

Monday, August 27

6:00 p.m.-7:15

Paterson Library

250 Broadway

Monday, September ...

PATERSON, NJ- Making good on a campaign promise to be active and visible in all of Paterson ...

PATERSON, NJ- The Passaic County Fair is coming back to Garret Mountain Reservation on Thursday, August 16, and will run until Sunday, August 19. Hosted by the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders in partnership with Friends of Passaic County Parks, Inc., the four day event will feature carnival rides, food vendors, the 4-H tent, a beer garden, pony rides and a petting zoo, and many other ...

PATERSON, NJ- The Passaic County Fair is coming back to Garret Mountain Reservation on Thursday, ...

PATERSON, NJ- Still sporting a cut lip and three loose teeth, Paterson resident Lomor Uddin stood before the Paterson City Council on Wednesday and recounted a recent attack he suffered on Union Avenue in the city’s 1st Ward on August 3. The incident, which he referred to as “the knockout game” left him unconscious for 15 minutes.

PATERSON, NJ- A second overnight shooting leaving four people injured was reported by law enforcement on Thursday. Earlier today TAPinto Paterson reported on the shooting of a 47-year-old woman in an apartment at 72 12th Avenue.

According to Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Troy Oswald, the second incident was reported at approximately 11:40 p.m. on ...

PATERSON, NJ- A second overnight shooting leaving four people injured was reported by law ...

PATERSON, NJ- An investigation is underway into the circumstances around the shooting of a 57-year-old Paterson woman in an apartment at 72 12th Avenue on Wednesday.

According to a statement by Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Troy Oswald, members of the Paterson Police Department responded to the area following a report of shots fired at approximately 8:59 ...

PATERSON, NJ- An investigation is underway into the circumstances around the shooting of a ...

FLUSHING, NY — Throughout the past decade, the state of New Jersey has produced copious baseball talent at the major league level. There are currently 19 New Jersey natives in the league, a number that is higher than it’s ever been.

"We got a lot of good guys and we represent where we’re from,” said the New York Mets’ Todd Frazier, one of those 19.

Of course, the game’s best player — ...

FLUSHING, NY — Throughout the past decade, the state of New Jersey has produced copious baseball ...

NEWARK, NJ - Essex County will no longer hold money in Wells Fargo accounts after clergy from Newark raised concerns about the bank’s aggressive foreclosure practices.

Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. gave a directive to transfer accounts to other banks in June, and announced today that all accounts would be withdrawn from Wells Fargo. The county had about $3.8 million in Wells ...

NEWARK, NJ - Essex County will no longer hold money in Wells Fargo accounts after clergy from ...